China's Xi touts Putin ties as USA tensions bring them closer

09 June 2018, 04:31 | Devin Moran

Trump to leave G7 summit early amid feud with Trudeau, Macron

U.S. President Donald Trump injected fresh drama into an already tense meeting of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations Friday, calling for Russian Federation, ousted for its the annexation of Crimea, to be reinstated.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump called for Russian Federation to be readmitted as a member of the G7, which was supported by Italy's new Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte.

Adding an extra layer of friction to the gathering, Trump suggested that Russian Federation - which was expelled following the annexation of Crimea - should be allowed to rejoin the group.

Yesterday he added another item to that list - calling for Russian Federation to be readmitted to the G7 group of nations.

That comment has Trump squarely offside with this fellow G7 leaders, including Canada, who view Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and its meddling in western elections as a major worldwide security concern.

In one of today's postings, Trump says he is heading to Canada for G7 talks that will mostly centre on the longtime, unfair trade practices aimed at the United States.

The tweets confirm Trump will indeed come, after weeks of speculation he may cancel rather than endure widespread criticism from allies over steel and aluminum tariffs.

But Kudlow was quick to downplay the rift between the president and USA allies.

"President Putin is the leader of a great country who is influential around the world", Xi said.

This had been building to a G6-plus-one summit, with Mr. Trump facing concerted opposition on his administration's recent tariffs. "Because of that - and who he is - you are going to see a lot of disruption for the first couple of years of this presidency, as President Trump tries to reset the table on a range of issues", Hadley said.

"Look, all of these countries have been taking advantage of the United States on trade", Trump told reporters as he left the White House, repeating his longstanding complaints about trade deficits and tariffs.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met Thursday with Trump at the White House, where the focus was Trump's unprecedented meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, scheduled for Singapore next week.

While Italy's new premier Giuseppe Conte, head of a populist coalition, had suggested he supports Trump's call, French President Emmanuel Macron assembled the European G7 leaders before the summit and confirmed unanimous opposition.

Mr Trump made the comment at the White House after hours of further escalating his rhetoric against long-time allies over USA trade practices.

As tempers frayed, Trump had a ready retort, via tweet: "Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the USA massive tariffs and create non-monetary barriers".

The issue of tariffs however may loom largest over Friday's talks.

Experts said the award was a clear sign that both countries were growing closer amid increasing pressure from the US.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is hosting the world's most powerful countries at the two-day summit in La Malbaie, in Quebec's Charlevoix region.

President Trump's untraditional views towards America's allies and enemies have some believing he could disrupt the world order.

Trump insisted the Canada-U.S. relationship is as good or better than it has ever been, and he even quipped that there might be a way the badly divided G7 could reach a consensus in their final communique on Saturday.

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